SHADOWS - THE EXCITEMENT OF WRITING THRILLERS

                                                              Image: Deepti Menon

Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Daphne Du Maurier, Victoria Holt, Edgar Allen Poe… the names would flash within my mind as I pored over their mysteries, looking for red herrings that were liberally peppered through the stories. All there in plain sight, and yet almost impossible to notice, till they were unearthed in the end. I would wonder at the ingenuity of the writer who could play around with suspense till the very end of the book, and then lift the curtain. Even Enid Blyton had this knack of leaving her mysteries unsolved till the last pages, the best way to keep her young readers hooked on to every book of hers.

Later in life, the list went on to add the more modern writers like Jeffrey Archer, James Patterson, Gillian Flynn, Dan Brown and Paula Hawkins. The stories became racier as the stories hurtled towards their climax. Every book was like a rollercoaster ride, leaving me breathless in its intensity.

That was when I decided that thrillers were what I would write. I believe that writing should always excite one, and suspense and crime intrigued me intensely. That is how my second solo book – ‘Shadow in the Mirror’ (Readomania) - came into being in 2016. A psychological thriller, it started from an acorn of an idea, and as Topsy said in ‘Uncle Tom’s cabin’, it ‘growed and growed’ till it became an oak tree of a book. I had no idea where the story would end, and as I wrote, my characters came to life in my mind, and on the page. As the blurb went, 

"It all begins with a death. Nita, a pregnant woman falling from her balcony becomes the string that unravels the plot. Her death casts a shadow over many lives; her heartbroken father, her husband and Vinny, a young journalist, drawn in by the whiff of foul play and murder.

What follows are stories within stories, eras and worlds colliding with one another, leaving behind splintered relationships and mesmerizing slices of lives that appear to be drawn together and driven apart by whimsical threads of destiny.

As events cast their shadows ahead to link the stories of Vinny, Kavita, Roma, Krish and Nita in an unrelenting knot, a journey starts to uncover the truth. What is the secret that links Nita's death to the other characters? Will Vinny be able to unravel the mystery of Nita;s death?

From intimate diary entries and letters, to bantering over a meal and sharing memories while spring cleaning, this novel de-familiarizes the ordinary, presenting a kaleidoscope of our own pasts, broken edges and pulsating hearts." 

                                                         

Short stories have always fascinated me. Around 2016, I began writing thriller short stories, or tales with a twist, many of which were published in myriad anthologies. As Stephen King put it so aptly,

"A short story is a different thing altogether – a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger.” Some of my stories were published in anthologies like Chronicles of Urban Nomads, Defiant Dreams, Crossed and Knotted, Mango Chutney, Upper Cut and the like.

                                                                Image: Deepti Menon

Finally, in 2020, a year that spelled doom for many, a solo anthology of my thriller stories was published by Readomania. The eBook was titled 'Where Shadows Follow' and the blurb read:

"How would you feel if you meandered into a tale and suddenly found it leading you up a twisted path of intrigue and evil?

Life is made up of light and shade. Just when you feel that things are in your control,the darkness moves in and edges the light out. That is when the shadows follow, creating an atmosphere of disquiet.

The stories in this anthology do just that. They keep you wondering where they are leading you till the shadows catch up with you."

However, my fascination for  thrillers did not stop there. In 2021, my latest solo anthology titled ‘Shadows Never Lie’, again by Readomania, came out and this again had tales with a twist, which I had painstakingly put together over the years. The blurb? 

"Are these stories, or scenes out of real life?

The human mind is often the most dangerous place to be within, especially when it houses emotions like hate, prejudice, rage, and above all, envy. Shadoes Never Lie is a collection of thrilling stories that have a hint of menace patterned on the mysterious outcome of envy and rage.

Get ready to delve into the dark recesses of the human mind, that can be twisted beyond imagination."

 

There have been umpteen times when people have looked at me and asked in astonishment, “One would never think, looking at you, that you could write stories that are so twisted, almost dark! How do you do it?”

My reply is almost always, “Blame it on my over-riotous imagination!”

Buying Links:

Shadow in the Mirror:

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M4JL112/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Where Shadows Follow:

https://www.amazon.in/Where-Shadows-Follow-Readomania-Shots-ebook/dp/B087V628T7

Shadows Never Lie:

https://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Never-Lie-Deepti-Menon-ebook/dp/B094QTD5QL

 This post is part of #BlogchatterHalfMarathon